Chessington 19

31st July 2010

Chessington Equestrian Centre, Chessington

Cycled to the yard early on Saturday morning, and thanks to the deceptive shower that looked light but completely drenched me, combined with my new jacket which apparently isn't waterproof, I was soaked through when I arrived. It wasn't raining there, so I took the risk of riding in my vest rather than the jacket, and hoped it would dry out by the time I got back. I was on my lovely Tom again, and there were 5 of us in total - Catrina the escort, Helen who was with me last week, and 2 other girls who were riding for the first time. It was quite a nice to be in a big group for a change, but I mostly stayed at the front with Catrina. We did a very similar route to last week over to Esher Common, but went a slightly different way over the common. It was faster than last week, and we did a lot more trotting on the way there. Going under the railway bridge, Catrina warned us that if a train came along to just sit up and stop, and that she was a jinx when it came to this bridge. Having been under it quite a few times and never heard a train I was dubious, but sure enough as we were underneath a train roared over. Most of the horses didn't blink an eyelid. Tom started bouncing around but up and down rather than forwards. Once he'd realised that a. the train wasn't going to eat him and b. it had long gone, he relaxed a bit. Tom had forgotten all the spookiness of the other day, apart from the odd startle at a leaf, but again he didn't put a foot wrong. No galloping, as on the sand track there were a couple of dogs, but when we were cantering he was again so light in the mouth and didn't pull in the slightest. It made me realise how good the hacking is over there. Yes, it may get a bit repetitive after a while, and there's little variation in the route going to Esher Common, but it's mostly off road and once you're there you're inundated with possibilities. The more time I spend at Chessington, the more I like it there. As well as the facilities, it's so friendly, and most people there have been there for years, in fact a lot of the adults started riding there as kids. I'm actually not going to look for a share online anymore, as I want to stay at Chessington so much, so it'll either be sharing one of the horses there, or buying and keeping there. I'm quite busy this week so am only doing the group lesson on Thursday, but then I have the TREC afternoon next Saturday. I've also just ordered the BHS Stage 1 & 2 books, as they do sessions there most weekends, and Diane said I should be ready to take my test for Stage 1 when they start again next Spring. Funnily enough the nearest test centre is one of the other places I was looking at before I went to Chessington.